Hospital News and Research

RSS

Software transmits brain wave data for instant analysis

What if a computer chip in a football player's helmet could tell coaches on the sideline that he has suffered a concussion?

1 Mar 2012

New robotic surgical system can treat early-stage lung cancer

In a Canadian first, thoracic surgeons at Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network used a robotic surgical system to treat early-stage lung cancer by removing the cancer, along with a lobe of the lung. The use of this system improves outcomes after surgery and will expand the numbers of patients who can benefit from this type of minimally invasive surgical treatment.

1 Mar 2012

Cyclotides discovery may open up new possibilities for immune suppression

A team of researchers at the MedUni Vienna, together with scientists from the University Hospital of Freiburg, has decoded a mechanism in cyclic plant peptides, known as cyclotides, from the family of coffee plants (Rubiaceae) that could open up new possibilities for immune suppression.

1 Mar 2012

CD4 T cells can directly kill HIV-infected cells

A subpopulation of the immune cells targeted by HIV may play an important role in controlling viral loads after initial infection, potentially helping to determine how quickly infection will progress. In the February 29 issue of Science Translational Medicine, a team of researchers from the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), MIT and Harvard describe finding a population of HIV-specific CD4 T cells - cells traditionally thought to direct and support activities of other immune cells - that can directly kill HIV-infected cells.

1 Mar 2012

U-M summit to focus on shortage of medical technologies for children

The University of Michigan is hosting the three-day summit that will focus attention on the widespread shortage of medical technologies to help sick children.

From Medtronic 1 Mar 2012

Loss of STAT1 transcription factor causes breast cancer development

Breast cancer represents about a fifth of all cancers diagnosed in women. The reasons for the rapid progression of the disease remain relatively poorly understood but recent work in the group of Veronika Sexl at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna has pointed the finger strongly at loss or inactivation of the transcription factor STAT1.

1 Mar 2012

ROSETTA Study to compare two therapies in women with overactive bladder

Overactive bladder, or the sudden urge to urinate, affects the quality of life of many women. Studies have shown that not all women respond to or can tolerate oral medications and may benefit from other therapies.

1 Mar 2012

New prebiotic formula helps colonize newborn's gut with beneficial bacteria

Adding prebiotic ingredients to infant formula helps colonize the newborn's gut with a stable population of beneficial bacteria, and probiotics enhance immunity in formula-fed infants, two University of Illinois studies report.

1 Mar 2012

TWRI team develops new drug against damaging effects of stroke

Scientists at the Toronto Western Research Institute (TWRI), Krembil Neuroscience Center, have developed a drug that protects the brain against the damaging effects of a stroke in a lab setting. This drug has been in development for a few years.

1 Mar 2012

Pregnant women and oral health

Oral health doesn't always top the list of concerns that expectant mothers may have, but it certainly should. Proper dental health and control of oral disease can safeguard a mother's health before and during pregnancy and reduces the transmission of bacteria from women to their children.

1 Mar 2012

New maternal health clinic targets women at increased risk of heart disease

A Queen's obstetrics professor has founded one of the first clinics in the world to use pregnancy and the postpartum as a key opportunity in a woman's life to focus on disease prevention.

1 Mar 2012

UnitedHealth acquisitions draw scrutiny, Maine's high court sides with regulators on insurance rate hikes

UnitedHealth Group's acquisition of a Calif. physician group and two Florida health plans are making news, and Maine's top court sides with regulators' authority to reject one Anthem's rate increases there.

1 Mar 2012

Ruxolitinib boosts QOL and survival for patients with myelofibrosis

A drug that relieves the severe symptoms of a life-threatening bone marrow cancer called myelofibrosis also improves the survival of patients with the disease, according to a phase III clinical trial published in the March 1 edition of New England Journal of Medicine.

1 Mar 2012

Study focuses on genetic markers in the diagnosis of autism

Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital has launched a study to determine whether genetic markers can be used to help identify children who are at risk of developing autism.

1 Mar 2012

State roundup: Mass. Gov. says state health reform easing cost increases; N.J. localities overpay on health coverage; Pa. cuts raise ire

At a speech to the American Cancer Society, Gov. Deval Patrick says that Massachusetts health reform has led to significant improvements in cancer screening. ... Patrick also calculates that current health care cost control efforts are enabling the state to "avoid nearly a billion dollars in cost increases in this fiscal year and another several hundred million more next year."

1 Mar 2012

ACTB and ACTG1 actin genes cause Baraitser-Winter syndrome

Scientists from Seattle Children's Research Institute and the University of Washington, in collaboration with the Genomic Disorders Group Nijmegen in the Netherlands, have identified two new genes that cause Baraitser-Winter syndrome, a rare brain malformation that is characterized by droopy eyelids and intellectual disabilities.

1 Mar 2012

RMC offers groundbreaking new procedure for LSS patients

More than one million people are diagnosed and treated each year in the United States for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS), a condition that occurs from the narrowing of the spinal canal. Peter Staats, M.D., in conjunction with Riverview Medical Center, is offering LSS patients a groundbreaking new procedure, mild (minimally invasive spinal decompression) that safely and therapeutically reduces pain and improves mobility.

1 Mar 2012

Scientists discover new way to measure success rate of IVF embryos

Scientists at University College Dublin have discovered a new way of measuring the potential success rate of an embryo before it is transferred back into the womb during in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

1 Mar 2012

Researchers observe how cholera decimates competing bacteria and human cells

Bacteria live in a state of perpetual warfare, with different species battling for dominion over their competitors and when pathogen, over their infected host. New research suggests that the human pathogen Vibrio cholerae, which causes the disease cholera, kills off its microbial rivals by jabbing them with a spring-loaded poison dagger.

1 Mar 2012

Springer adds 6 new quarterly clinical review journals to medicine portfolio

Springer is adding six new quarterly clinical review journals to its existing medicine portfolio in March 2012. These new journals will expand the publisher's medical specialty coverage, focusing on dermatology, geriatrics/gerontology, nutrition, obesity, obstetrics/gynecology and respiratory care.

29 Feb 2012